Beloved 'Sesame Street' Residents Elmo and Rosita Encourage Self-Care for Military Families

Five new videos are among the digital resources now available to help members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families manage the challenges of military life

Elmo and Rosita. Photo: Sesame Workshop

Life can be stressful for U.S. military members and their loved ones. Deployments can change with little warning, uprooting family life — sometimes across the globe. In an instant, everything might be different and new when a loved one serves in the military.

Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind Sesame Street and a partner organization of the U.S. Armed Forces, is launching new digital resources to help military families focus on self-care and emotional well-being.

These include five new videos featuring Elmo and Rosita, a beloved Sesame Street resident whose father is a military veteran.

One video encourages thinking about "went-wells" during a tough day.

"Sometimes I have really hard days," says Rosita's father, Ricardo. "And that's when I think about my 'went-wells': Three simple things, no matter how large or how small, that have gone well that day. Things like how the coffee was really good this morning. My therapy session, and how it was challenging but in a good way. And how I got things all set up for my family game night."

In another video, focused on how physical movement can be a fun and easy form of self-care, Elmo and his father Louie have a dance party.

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The videos are a collaboration between Sesame Workshop and Amazon Web Services.

"Every little moment of self-care can have a big impact," Jeanette Betancourt, Sesame Workshop's Senior Vice President of U.S. Social Impact, said in a press release about the new initiative. "Sesame Workshop is here with resources and support for our military and caregiving families who give so much of themselves in service to their country."

A 2021 survey conducted by teenagers from military families sheds light on the struggles relatives of service members face.

The result of a partnership between Bloom: Empowering the Military Teen, an organization run by teens from military families, and the National Military Family Association, the survery found that 42% of its 2,000 respondents between the ages of 13 and 19 showed signs of significant emotional distress, while 36% expressed concerns about food insecurity.